Editorial

By Sherly Isaac

Enemies constantly surrounded king Hezekiah and Judah (a part of Israel) and yet this tiny nation could live in peace and freedom because God was their protection. Hezekiah saw that his neighboring countries including Israel had fallen before the Assyrian king and still he denied paying tribute to the king of Assyria. The reason was that Hezekiah walked in the ways of God with all his heart and did everything right in the sight of God. In return God blessed him, prospered him and gave him protection from all his enemies.

Everything went well until one day Hezekiah was in great trouble. You see that when you walk with God and do everything right according to the will of God, it does not mean that you will not face any more problems. But the truth is that when you face trouble and if you trust in the Lord, He will deliver you with His mighty hands and will not allow you to fall in to the hands of your enemy.

In the fourteenth year of his reign Hezekiah was in real trouble when the Assyrian king came against him and took all his cities. Hezekiah felt that he had no other option except to pay tribute. We read in 2 Ki 18:14, ‘"I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay." And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.’ Though Hezekiah paid tribute this time, the Assyrian king sent his officers with a great army against Hezekiah. They came and started to blaspheme the almighty God and to insult king Hezekiah and his people. We read in 2 Kings 18:19-25 that the enemy came and started challenging Hezekiah with fierce words. He said, “whom you are trusting on? Is there any God who could deliver you from the great king of Assyria?

Further he says in 2 Ki 18:31-35, "Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'"

The enemy was wise and powerful. He tried to completely destroy their faith in God exulting in their victories over all the surrounding nations. Judah was left all alone who did not bow down before the king of Assyria. We all know how difficult it is to stand firmly under such circumstance like this. When Hezekiah heard the challenge of his enemy, the first thing he did was to seek the face of God as we read in 2 Ki 19:1, “And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.” He also sent his servants to the prophet Isaiah. And Isaiah replied to them 2 Ki 19:6-7, "Thus you shall say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'" It happened exactly as told by God. God delivered them with great deliverance. You can understand in how much grave situation he was in and how God brought him out of it victoriously.

It is possible that you may be in such a grave situation in your life and there may be no hope of seeing a way out. My friend, trust in Jesus. The same God who brought out Hezekiah would bring you out and bless you.

Harry Potter – The Boy Wizard

By Sherly Isaac

Last week there was uproar around the world as the last Harry Potter book was being released. I saw in TV how people, young and old alike lined up in large numbers to get a copy of the book. Some of the young readers exclaimed saying, we love Harry Potter because he has special witchcraft powers. This world is looking for power but in wrong places. Witchcraft may give you some power but at the end it is going to be deadly and poisonous.

Bible talks about a king named Manasseh who lived such an evil life that it provoked God badly to anger. 2 Kings 21st chapter talks all about his sins. Let me tell you what his sin was.

Here are the seven sins of Manasseh:

1. He rebuilt the high places, raised up altars for Baal (a foreign god), made wooden image and he worshipped all the host of heaven and served them. He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD, He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put My name. (2kings 21:3-5).

2. He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers; only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them."

3. He made his son pass through the fire means he sacrificed his son while God said that sacrificing human beings is an act of abomination.

4. He practiced soothsaying that is prophesying with the help of demons and evil spirits.

5. He used witchcraft. Again it is a practice done with the help of devil and it is an abomination in the eyes of God.

6. He consulted spiritists and mediums. Spiritists and mediums are those who talk to dead spirits through the power of witchcraft.

7. Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, (2 Ki 21:16).

These were the sins of Manasseh who did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

Bible tells us in 2 Ki 21:11-12, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols), therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.”

After the rule of Manasseh a good king came whose name was Josiah. He repented from all the sins of his forefathers and did good in the sight of God. Yet God was so angry that he was determined to throw Judah from before His eyes. He promised to Josiah that he will die peacefully but not his next generations.

My friend, what Manasseh did was evil and what today people are doing in the name of Harry Potter is evil. Witchcraft and wizardry are abominations in the sight of God. God will not sit and watch forever. He will visit with vengeance and who can stand before Him? If we really want to see blessings in our lives and in the coming generations, we need to get rid of all the evil things from our lives.

My advice is to repent from all these evils and turn to God. Call upon His holy name and He will forgive and forget all our sins.

Standing in the Gap - Fasting prayer on 8th Dec.. 2015

As the Bible says in Ezekiel 22:30 "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it." And also the Bible says in Numbers 16:48, "And he (Aaron) stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." We have fasting prayer every second Tuesday of each month. Our next fasting prayer meeting will be conducted on 16th Nov. 2015

Download Articles in Handheld Computers

You can now download articles in Palm Doc format for your palm handheld computer. It will work with any devise that has Palm OS and Palm Doc Reader installed. To download click on the link named "Palm Doc Format" i.e. at the top of this page by the side of each articles.

Your Spam Folder

If you are getting this newsletter in your bulk/junk/Spam folder please hit the "not junk" or "not spam" button so that you could receive it in your mailbox. Also adding feedback@insearchofpeace.org email address into your contact list can avoid this email from ending up in your bulk folder.

Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online

Through the Valley of Death

As many of you know that in the year 2005, our dad was very sick even unto death. God miraculously healed him. We have compiled it in a book form. I sure believe that it will inspire you and encourage you greatly.

Free Tutorials for your Kids!

Now you can learn Graphics and web designing online. These tutorials are free but you may need to get login ID by registering yourslef. Currently tutorials for Paint Shop Pro, HTML and Dreamweaver/Fireworks are available but in future more tutorials will be added.